Tsunami waves from Japan's huge quake have killed at least one person and sparked mass evacuations on the American continent, but failed to inflict major damage. Surges of eight feet (2.4 meters) high crashed ashore on the coasts of California and Oregon Friday, up to 12 hours after the 8.9-magnitude quake triggered tsunami alerts in dozens of countries across the Pacific.
In California's Del Norte County, a 25-year-old man was confirmed dead after being swept into the Pacific Ocean near the mouth of the Klamath River. The man and two friends were taking photographs of the incoming tsunami waves. "We have at least 35 boats that have been crushed. We have boats on top of other boats," said Cindy Henderson, emergency services manager in Crescent City, 350 miles north of San Francisco.
The US Coast Guard added that there had also been damage to about six boats in a marina in Santa Cruz, further south, after they collided with each other due to the buffeting tsunami waves. Santa Cruz port director Lisa Ekers estimated the damage at more than $10 million, according to CNN. California's governor Jerry Brown, meanwhile, declared a state of emergency in four of the state's coastal counties - a procedure that unblocks federal funds to help with the clean-up.
Before reaching the US mainland the tidal waves hit Hawaii, which had been given only four hours to evacuate low-lying areas, sirens blared as locals and tourists scrambled to higher ground. Many residents had already taken refuge in shelters, after the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an ocean-wide alert for the giant waves along the West Coast, down through Central and South America as far as Antarctica.
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